Shingle stacking machine



R. H. GAUTHIER EIAL 2,847,109

SHINGLE STACKING MACHINE Aug. 12, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 5, 1956 fiz PH 3950 4 M ire SHINGLE STACK'ING MACHINE Application October 5, 1956, Serial No. 614,118

8 Claims. (Cl. 198-35) This invention relates to a machine for handling shingles and more particularly relates to a machine for stacking asphalt roofing strip shingles one upon another.

Asphalt roofing strip shingles have been used for many years. They ordinarily comprise a rectangular piece of roofing felt having a coating of plastic asphalt on one side thereof and having granules impressed in the plastic asphalt. They are ordinarily in the form of a rectangular sheet about 12 inches wide and 36 inches long. There are two equally spaced cutouts at one edge of the 36- inch length forming three tabs.

Asphalt strip shingles are ordinarily made on machines which manufacture a plurality of shingles side by side cut from a continuous web of material. A roofing machine which handles material 72 inches wide, for example, produces six strip shingles side by side across the sheet such that the cut-out or butt edges of the shingles face each other in each pair of adjacent shingles. These shingles are taken o'lf the machine and made up into bundles for shipping. It is ordinarily not important which way the shingles face in the bundle and one method commonly used is to have a group of say, nine shingles one on top of the other with the butt edges all facing in the same direction and then alternating this with another group of nine shingles also face upward but turned in the opposite direction, and another group of nine shingles facing in the direction of the first group of nine shingles forming a bundle for shipment of 27 shingle strips.

A type of asphalt strip shingle particularly adapted for increased resistance to the wind by sealing down the butt edges thereof is disclosed in United States Patent 2,210,209 to Kirschbraun. An improvement over the said patent comprises an asphalt strip shingle having an adhesive material along the lower back edge of each butt and a strip of aluminum or other non-adhesive material at the top edge of each shingle on the face thereof. These shingles are packed all face up but alternated butt edge to top edge and top edge to butt edge, etc., so that the adhesive material contacts an aluminum strip on the next shingle below. These shingles require stacking of alternate shingles so that they may subsequently be put in a bundle for shipment facing in the same direction but having alternate butt edges at one side of the bundle and the other alternate butt edges at the opposite side of the bundle.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a machine for automatically stacking shingles having the granule coated surfaces facing in one direction but having the butt edges of each shingle alternating with respect to the shingle above and below it in the bundle.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a machine for automatically shuffling two parallel rows of moving asphalt strip shingles so that each parallel pair of shingles are arranged to lie one on top of the other with the butt edges facing in opposite directions.

These and other objects are achieved by the present invention which may best be understood by the attached States Patent drawings illustrating preferred embodiments of the invention, but it will be understood that substitutions and deviations may be made within the scope of claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view partially in perspective of the machine of the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is a top plan view partially in perspective of the device of Fig. 1 with asphalt strip shingles in place thereon; and

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of the essential elements of the machine shown at Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of an alternative device; and

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the device shown at Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary diagrammatic cross-sectional view of the device shown at Fig. 4.

With reference to Figs. 1 and 3, it will be seen that the device comprises essentially a series of continuous belts all adapted to move at substantially the same speed and to be at varying levels with relation to each other as particularly shown at Fig. 3. Belts 10 and 11 are arranged substantially parallel and spaced apart, belt 11 being slightly higher than belt 10. Adjacent the ends of belts 1t and 11 are belts 12 and 13 also parallel to each other but closer together than belts 10 and 11 and preferably being in a staggered relationship lengthwise as shown and with belt 13 being slightly higher than belt 12. Finally, there is provided a belt 14 adjacent the end of belt 13 and located substantially midway between belts 12 and 13.

All of the belts move in the same direction on the upper side of the machine, i. e., from belts 10 and 11 towards belt 14. At each side of the whole series of belts are continuous guide plates 16 and 17 which converge from the width of two shingles at the entrance end of the machine to the width of one shingle at the exit end of the machine. The whole machine is adapted to be located at the delivery end of a shingle machine, not shown, such that parallel adjacent shingles are delivered simultaneously to belts 10 and 11 with butt edges adjacent. At the delivery end of the machine there is preferably located a table, not shown, on which the groups of two shingles each are permitted to drop and accumulate until a stack of a suflicient number of shingles to comprise a bundle are accumulated after which they are removed automatically or by hand.

With reference to Fig. 2 there is shown a pair of shingles 19 and 20 which have been passed from the conveyor of the shingle machine on to the belts 10 and 11. By reason of the guide plates 16 and 17 as well as the fact that belt 10 is slightly lower than belt 11 the shingles are caused to partially slide over each other as shown. Shingles 21 and 22 are shown at the next forward position of the machine where the guide plates 16 and 17 have forced the shingles substantially one on top of the other at the leading end. Shingles 23 and 24 are shown on belt 14 where they now lie one on top of the other, both face upward and with the butts in opposite directions.

The entire machine may be driven from a single driving source, not shown, through shaft 26 whereby belt 14 is driven over a mandrel Z7 and is pulled over a freely rotating mandrel 28, all of which are supported on bearing mounts 29, preferably on a single support or bed 30. By means of a driving chain 32, belt 12 may be driven through shaft 33 and consequently belt 10 may be driven through shaft 34. The driving means may also be connected to shafts 35 and 36 for driving belts 13 and 11, respectively.

It will be understood that various means for driving may be utilized as, for example, each shaft may be driven by an individual electric motor. In the case of a roofing machine delivery more than two parallel shingles at a time a plurality of the machines of the present invention may be utilized in side by side relationship. While a total of five belts are shown, it will be appreciated that a larger number may be used but for the present purpose five belts have proved to be sufficie'nt. Also, instead of belts or webs other equivalent driving means such as five sections each of a plurality of driven rollers could be utilized as is well known in the conveyor art.

With reference to Figs. 4, 5 and 6, there is shown an alternative form of the invention. As in the form of the invention described above, the device is placed at the delivery end of an asphalt roofing machine. As the shingles come off the roofing machine they drop on to belts 36 and 37. Belt 36 carries the shingle upwardly and transfers it to belt 38. The shingle travelling on belt 37 is transferred substantially without change in level to belt 39 which is located underneath and parallel to belt 38. In order to place the shingles one directly above the other, the belts are complemented by guide plates 40 and 41 which define a converging path. The shingle travelling on belt 38 thus drops down on top of the shingle travelling on belt 39 since belt 38 is shorter than belt 39. The pair of shingles thus are delivered one on top of the other with their butt edges in opposite directions to a packaging table not shown. As in the device described above, there is a driving mechanism such as an electric motor 43 which by belt or other means causes all four belts to move simultaneously. Gears are utilized which makes the speed of belt 38 slightly greater than that of belt 39 to compensate for the slightly longer path the upper shingle travels.

We claim:

1. A machine for stacking shingles comprising a first pair of parallel conveyors one rising above the other,

a second pair of parallel conveyors arranged adjacent the ends of said first pair and a pairof guide plates substantially parallel but converging inwardly from said first pair of conveyors to said second pair of conveyors adapted to guide shingles travelling on said conveyors into a position one above the other.

2. A machine for stacking shingles comprising a first pair of parallel conveyors one located slightly above the other, a second pair of parallel conveyors arranged adjacent the ends of said first pair and closer together than said first pair, one of said second pair being slightly above the other, a fifth conveyor arranged adjacent the end of said second pair and a pair of guide plates substantially parallel but converging inwardly from said first pair of conveyors to said fifth conveyor.

3. A machine for stacking shingles comprising a first pair of parallel conveyors one located slightly above the other, a second pair of parallel conveyors arranged adjacent the ends of said first pair and closer together than said first pair, one of said second pair being slightly above the other and further away from said first pair longitudinally than the other of said second pair, a fifth conveyor arranged adjacent the end of said second pair and a pair of guide plates substantially parallel but converging inwardly from said first pair of conveyors to said fifth conveyor.

4. A machine for stacking shingles comprising a first pair of parallel belts one located slightly above the other, a second pair of parallel belts arranged adjacent the ends of said first pair and closer together than said first pair, one of said second pair being slightly above the other, a fifth belt arranged adjacent the end of said second pair and a pair of guide plates substantially parallel but converging inwardly from said first pair of belts to said fifth belt.

5. A machine for stacking shingles comprising a first pair of parallel belts one located slightly above the other, a second pair of parallel belts arranged adjacent the ends of said first pair and closer together than said first pair, one of said second pair being slightly above the other and further away from said first pair longitudinally than the other of said second pair, a fifth belt arranged adjacent the end of said second pair and a pair of guide plates substantially parallel but converging inwardly from said first pair of belts to said fifth belt.

6. A machine for stacking shingles comprising a first pair of parallel belts one located slightly above the other, a second pair of parallel belts arranged adjacent the ends of said first pair and closer together than said first pair, one of said second pair being slightly above the other and further away from said first pair longitudinally than the other of said second pair, a fifth belt arranged adjacent the end of said second pair and a pair of guide plates substantially parallel but converging inwardly from said first pair of belts to said fifth belt and driving means adapted to drive all the belts at the same speed and in the same direction.

7. A machine for stacking shingles comprising a first pair of parallel belts one of said belts slanting upwardly so that at its discharge end it is substantially higher than the discharge end of the second belt, a second pair of parallel belts arranged adjacent the ends of said first pair and arranged one above the other and a pair of guide plates substantially parallel but converging inwardly from said first pair of belts to said second pair of belts and adapted to cause shingles travelling on said belts to be conveyed into a position one above the other.

8. A machine for stacking shingles comprising a first pair of parallel belts one of said belts slanting upwardly so that at its discharge end it is substantially higher than the discharge end of the second belt, a second pair of parallel belts arranged adjacent the ends of said first pair and arranged one above the other and a pair of guide plates substantially parallel but converging inwardly from said first pair of belts to said second pair of belts and adapted to cause shingles travelling on said belts to be conveyed into a position one above the other, the upper of said second pair of belts being substantially shorter than the lower of said second pair of belts such that the shingle conveyed by the upper belt is adapted to fall upon the shingle conveyed by the lower belt.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 548,056 Hewitt Oct. 15, 1895 

